Linux Update to our Kickstarter Backers

In our rush to the launch date we set for ourselves of January 12th to launch on OUYA, the Forge TV, OSX and Windows, we let our Linux backers down. We did not launch with a Linux version, which has served to make our Linux gamer backers feel like second class citizens.

Please accept our apologies, we screwed up, we have reached out to some of our Linux backers for testing help and taken some time to get a test environment ready, and we are currently working on rolling out our Linux build and should have it ready very soon.

TDC is built on the Unity 4 game engine, and so we are constrained in our support to those distros targeted and supported by Unity and the graphics driver support maintained by hardware vendors.

That said, we do not rely on advanced graphics libraries. We support the Shader 2 standard, and so the game should be compatible with most popular distros and supported cards, however it will not be perfect, and we ask for your patience as we work through these issues, and transition as a studio into supporting our players.

On our agreement with Razer and Linux on Steam

There has also been questions about our distribution agreement with OUYA. First, you should know that OUYA has always been about doing the right thing, and has always been fair and generous with us. Our original understanding of our exclusivity terms was that in our negotiation to bring TDC to the Steam storefront required that we exclude Linux from Steam and only provide it as a DRM free option on our website.

This was out of our desire to honor OUYA’s investment and our console exclusivity term. Our interpretation of the approaching launch of the Steambox and the Steam OS, which is Linux-based, is that we would be violating this agreement by releasing TDC on Steam for Linux.

We reached out to Razer for clarification and we’re happy to announce that they interpret the Steambox as a PC, and as such we will be releasing TDC on Steam for Linux, as well as a DRM-free option soon after for the Humble widget on our website along with the Humble Store.